Erie County Sheriff's Office: Police ask for help in addressing car larcenies

by Alex

Sat, Aug 4th 2012 07:00 am

by Larry Austin

The Erie County
Sheriff's Office is reminding Island residents to take precautions in the wake
of summer car larcenies.

Town Supervisor Mary
Cooke said, "Over the weekend law enforcement on Grand Island received and
handled multiple car larcenies." Deputy Matt Cipollitti called car break-ins
"an ongoing thing," but police are asking for residents' help in attacking the
problem.

"We've had blocks or
areas where anywhere from one car to 30 cars have been gone through,"
Cipollitti said. "They're stealing anything from GPSs to cell phones to laptops
to DVDs, anything that's of any value is being taken out of these vehicles."

"We're looking for the public's help to be
more or less their eyes and ears to help out with the situation," Cipollitti
said this week.

Cipollitti reminded
residents that if anyone sees something "out of the norm or something that is
suspicious, to call it in." He said people need to be aware that something that
they might think is minute is oftentimes the tip the police need.

"A lot of our arrests
are made on the smallest of details, so if somebody feels, or it crosses their
mind, that something is just out of place, feel free to call it in," he said.

The sheriff's
non-emergency number is 858-2903.

"It's happening all
over the Island. It's not a specific location, but it is ongoing. We've been
dealing with this for a long time now."

Cipollitti reminded
residents to lock their car doors and remove valuables from their cars.

"We have had
complaints and calls in the past where windows have been smashed or broken, but
I would have to say probably between 90 and 95 percent (of larcenies) are from
unlocked doors."